Go Beyond: Campaign for Wheaton may be officially completed, but the college’s students will feel the impact of the effort for years to come.

Go Beyond, by the numbers

Scholarships

More than 220 new scholarships now exist to improve access to a Wheaton education through endowed funds and annual gifts.

$53.3 million

Wheaton Fund

The entire campus—from the library and technology to campus programming— received much-needed support through the Wheaton Fund.

$35.7 million

Mars Science Center

We have state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and collaboration space in the Mars Center for Science and Technology.

$32.6 million

Student-Faculty Research

More opportunities are available for students to partner with professors on research projects, supported by new endowed funds for student-faculty collaborations.

$1.4 million

Nordin Field

There are new opportunities for intercollegiate, club and intramural sports at the Diane Nordin ’80 Athletic Field.

$3.8 million

Academic Programs

New programs and resources for students, including $2.4 million for academic and faculty support and $2.1 million for the Filene Center for Academic Advising and Career Services.

$10.6 million

The eight-year fundraising effort closed on June 30, 2014, with $137,614,399 in gifts and pledges to support student scholarship, faculty and academic programs, building new science and athletic facilities, and supporting myriad programs with annual contributions.

“We started the campaign with ambitious goals, and the generosity of the Wheaton community allowed us to accomplish every objective, and go beyond,” said Thomas Hollister, chair of the Wheaton Board of Trustees. “This extraordinary success has strengthened the quality of the programs and opportunities that we offer students, and has helped place a Wheaton education within reach for more families.”

The campaign’s $137 million final tally exceeded the original $120 million target that the Board of Trustees set for the campaign when it launched in 2006. Leading the effort was a centerpiece of former President Ronald A. Crutcher’s tenure.

“I will always be grateful for the commitment to Wheaton and to the value of the liberal arts shown by the thousands of alumnae and alumni, parents and friends through their generosity,” Crutcher said.

Leaders in guiding the effort shared his gratitude. “Wheaton’s campaign ended more than 10 percent over goal. That is a huge tribute to the motivation of all our donors, who clearly know the importance of the strong college education that Wheaton provides,” said Trustee Debra Kent Glidden ’68, a co-chair of the campaign steering committee. “I have been privileged to know many Wheaton students. I know that Wheaton makes a difference in each of their lives and that many students have made a difference in mine.”

The campaign elicited broad participation from the Wheaton community. More than 12,000 people contributed to the campaign, including 9,192 alumnae and alumni and 2,060 parents of students and graduates. Leadership contributions of $25,000 or more came from about 400 individuals, yet accounted for just over 90 percent of the total.

“The success of the campaign can be measured on so many levels. It isn’t only about the amount raised but the huge outpouring of support from Wheaton alumnae/i, parents and friends. It is also about the enthusiasm that has been generated in making Wheaton better and better,” said Trustee Nancy Pearlstine Conger ’67, a co-chair of the campaign. “All of this took place as the worldwide economy collapsed. The loyalty and commitment of the Wheaton community is extraordinary in good and bad times. So many stepped forward in so many ways that we truly did ‘go beyond.’”

Wheaton plans to celebrate the end of the campaign and pay tribute to everyone who made it a success during Homecoming Weekend. On the patio outside the Diana Davis Spencer ’60 Café, a plaque will be dedicated on Friday, October 17, in honor of the thousands of alumnae/i, parents and friends who contributed to the effort.

Picture theater students being able to digitally track how an audience member’s eyes move across the stage during a performance and using that information to improve a show’s design.

Imagine updated and expanded spaces for do-it-yourself projects, where students from a variety of disciplines can come together and experiment with tools, materials, media and technologies to build something original, solve problems and inspire others.

These ideas, and other possibilities, will become reality over the next four years, thanks to a $500,000 grant awarded to Wheaton by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation. The funding will be used to promote new approaches to teaching and learning in the arts and new media, and will support the collaborative efforts of Wheaton faculty and staff through the newly established InterMedia Arts Group Innovation Network (IMAGINE).

“This important grant recognizes the extraordinary collaborations that are already happening on campus, some of which flow directly from the Connections curriculum and others from the spirit of creative colleagueship that Connections inspires,” Provost Linda Eisenmann said. “We’ve established an environment where faculty and staff already want to reach out across disciplines, and to bring students along with them.”

The new funding will be used to integrate technology into the arts and arts into technology, according to Josh Stenger, Hannah Goldberg Professor of Teaching Innovation. He will serve as a project manager for the grant’s first year, along with Touba Ghadessi, associate professor of art history and co-founder of the Wheaton Institute for the Interdisciplinary Humanities.

“IMAGINE seeks to dispel two stubborn and onerous fictions: that art is not rigorous or technical, and that science is not creative,” said Stenger, who also coordinates film and new media studies. “As is common in the arts and sciences, IMAGINE emphasizes project-based learning. It is a hands-on, minds-on enterprise that supports and encourages learning by doing both in connection with and independent of specific courses.”

The grant money will support development of new courses and the transformation of existing courses that integrate the arts and technology—about three each year over the next four years. Funds will also be used to establish student-faculty special-interest groups and to purchase new technology and equipment such as a laser cutter, industrial 3-D printer, motion-capture camera equipment, mobile eye-tracking equipment and a programmable loom.

Assistant Professor of Filmmaking Patrick Johnson hopes to draw on the resources available through IMAGINE this fall when he teaches the First-Year Seminar “Mobile Storytelling.”

“With the IMAGINE network in place, I will be able to hold class sessions in locations throughout campus, including in FiberSpace, the WCCS recording studio, the Wheaton Autonomous Learning Laboratory [WHALE lab], the experimental theatre and the slide library, and present location-based storytelling challenges to the students,” Johnson said. “It’s a great opportunity to introduce these different spaces, technologies and creative potential to members of the freshman class.”

Associate Professor of Computer Science Tom Armstrong, founder of the WHALE lab and FiberSpace, said he is looking forward to bringing the two spaces together in one room with new equipment. The new space will be called Making@Wheaton.

“Wheaton strongly believes in the power and value of a connected, interdisciplinary curriculum,” Armstrong said. “This grant will allow us to combine and expand the WHALE lab and FiberSpace, making new opportunities for computational thinking available to all interested Wheaton students, staff and faculty.”

These and other projects will be introduced to Wheaton in the coming four years, and professors are excited to see how students respond.

As Johnson put it: “The IMAGINE network is an amazing sandbox. But like a sandbox, it’s not the sand or the box that’s really important, it’s the castles that the students make.”

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/09/15/major-grant-supports-new-innovation-network/feed/0whale lab 1(Photos Copyright 2009 Victoria Arocho, RockaRho Publishing, LLC)Freshman Year Seminar FYS Theatre and Social Changesnapshots fiberspace 1At Work in the FiberSpaceWe can do thishttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/we-can-do-this/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/we-can-do-this/#respondThu, 08 May 2014 03:35:41 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9496Go Beyond: Campaign for Wheaton is nearing the finish line. With just one month to go to the campaign’s close on June 30, 2014, alumnae/i, parents and friends are working toward two objectives: pushing the Wheaton Fund over the $4.7 million goal line and strengthening support for student scholarships. Success on both fronts is in sight. With a little help, Go Beyond will set a historic record for the college and greatly enhance the college’s foundation for academic excellence.

John Wieland (left), Susan Walden Wieland ’60 (center) and family during Homecoming Weekend in 2008, when the Alumnae/i Association presented Susan with an Alumnae/i Achievement Award in honor of her service in promoting education and the arts

Couple establishes scholarship endowment

Susan Walden Wieland ’60 and her husband, John, recently established an endowed scholarship fund at Wheaton in Susan’s name and to honor President Ronald A. Crutcher’s service to the college. John recently talked about the couple’s connection to Wheaton and their motivation for their contribution to the college.

About Susan and John Wieland

The Wielands moved to Atlanta one year after they married. They founded a home-building business, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, growing it into a company operating in four states. John estimates that he has built more than 30,000 homes in his career. They have two children—a daughter, Lindsey, and a son, Jack.

The pair are art lovers and active philanthropists in Atlanta. John has served for more than 20 years on the board of directors of the High Museum of Art, including three as chair of the board. The couple’s personal art collection numbers more than 600 pieces and is focused on art in all media where the theme of houses represents a central image.

Susan has played a leadership role in a number of nonprofits, including the Woodruff Arts Center, the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, the Westminster Schools, Families First, Atlanta Children’s Shelter and the Alliance Theatre, among others. Wheaton presented her with an Alumnae/i Achievement Award in 2008 in recognition of her service to the community.

How did you both come to be supporters of the college?

Wheaton was Sue’s life for four years, and we met thanks to an Amherst College fraternity brother of mine who married one of Sue’s Wheaton classmates. They thought we would be right for each other, and they were correct. Since our marriage 50 years ago, Wheaton has been a shared interest for both of us. For the past 10 years we have tremendously admired how President Crutcher has led Wheaton.

Why did you decide to create the endowed fund at this time?

We both have become concerned by the financial crisis that is faced by far too many undergraduates when their family’s circumstances change and the student and their family are no longer able to handle the academic bills and related expenses. Our gift is designated to supporting students who are currently enrolled but end up facing these unfortunate situations, and find staying enrolled a major, perhaps even impossible, challenge—all through no fault of their own.

Why did you direct your gift to scholarship support?

To provide such scholarship help is something that Sue and I believe in as a very productive use of our money. We are simply grateful that we are able to provide this kind of assistance to students at Wheaton, recognizing not only the importance of Wheaton in Sue’s life, but also the powerful role that President and Mrs. Crutcher have played in the development of Wheaton as a leading liberal arts college.

What do you value most about Wheaton?

We are firm believers in the power of a liberal arts education to transform and enrich lives. We look forward to sharing the blessings that we have received through our liberal arts educations with others. Hopefully, the scholarship recipients, through their liberal arts experience, will have a deeper and more meaningful life. Allowing men and women to complete their Wheaton dream is the completion of a dream for us.

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/transforming-lives/feed/0Wheaton College Homecoming 10/18/2008John Wieland (left), Susan Walden Wieland ’60 (center) and family during Homecoming Weekend in 2008, when the Alumnae/i Association presented Susan with an Alumnae/i Achievement Award in honor of her service in promoting education and the artsHonoring the Crutchershttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/honoring-crutchers/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/honoring-crutchers/#respondThu, 08 May 2014 03:07:25 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9515The Thomas Anthony Pappas Charitable Foundation recently joined other friends of the college in supporting student scholarships to honor President Ronald A. Crutcher and his wife, Betty Neal Crutcher.

The foundation’s $25,000 grant not only pays tribute to the Crutchers but also augments its existing endowed scholarship fund, the Thomas Anthony Pappas Endowed Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.

Wheaton alumnae/i, parents and friends are choosing to support scholarships as a way of paying tribute to the Crutchers’ personal commitment to helping students. Each year, they greet first-year families when they arrive for orientation, helping to unload minivans, answer myriad questions and share a warm welcome. They stay connected with these students, personally mentoring dozens of young women and men.

In addition, the Crutchers’ philanthropy has been directed to scholarship aid to help ensure that students will not face excessive student loan debt after they graduate.

The Ronald and Betty Neal Crutcher Wheaton Fund Scholarship will confer annual scholarships for the 2014–2015 academic year to deserving students on the basis of academic merit, extracurricular achievements, and/or community service.

The effort will result in both an endowed scholarship fund and a Wheaton Fund scholarship that will be awarded immediately.

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/honoring-crutchers/feed/0President Ronald A. Crutcher with Betty Neal CrutcherSupporting international studentshttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/supporting-international-students/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/supporting-international-students/#respondThu, 08 May 2014 03:06:03 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9519The college has received a $150,000 award from the Davis United World College (UWC) Scholars Program to provide scholarship support for talented students from around the globe.

The grant will provide scholarships to students who are admitted to Wheaton from one of the 12 United World College schools, which are located in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Central America.

“I greatly appreciate our ongoing partnership with the Davis United World College Scholars Program,” President Ronald A. Crutcher said. “Our Davis UWC scholars are outstanding students who bring a diverse array of experiences and perspectives to our campus.

“These young women and men are also outstanding leaders, and their engagement in campus life enriches the entire community,” he said, noting that the increasing number of Davis UWC scholars at Wheaton mirrors the growing population of international students at the college.

At present, 17 students from UWC schools are enrolled at Wheaton. Twenty-five UWC scholars have graduated from Wheaton since 2004, when the program began partnering with the college.

The Davis UWC Scholars Program— funded by Shelby M.C. Davis, the brother of Trustee Emerita Diana Davis Spencer ’60—seeks to advance international understanding through education by helping promising students and future leaders to study at leading U.S. colleges and universities. Wheaton is one of 90 institutions affiliated with the program.

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/supporting-international-students/feed/0UWC DavisA boost for budding scientists: Jennings family looks to the futurehttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/boost-budding-scientists-jennings-family-future/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/boost-budding-scientists-jennings-family-future/#respondThu, 08 May 2014 03:05:16 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9522For 40 years, chemistry professor Bojan Hamlin Jennings taught and mentored science students at Wheaton, always with the staunch support of her husband, Addison. Now she is extending that legacy by establishing two endowed funds to support today’s students.

Chemistry professor Bojan Hamlin Jennings in 2008

The Jennings Family Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to an academically talented first-year student who intends to major in chemistry, biochemistry, physics or biology. Bojan chose to support financial aid partly because she herself benefited from scholarships—first at a private high school and then at Bryn Mawr College.

The Jennings Family Prize, awarded separately, will be given at spring convocation to the most academically stellar rising senior who is majoring in one of the natural sciences. Bojan intends the award to add distinction to the recipient’s résumé or graduate school applications. A stipend accompanying the prize will help the student fund an academic endeavor, such as a research project—a fitting honor, because Bojan pioneered the Wheaton tradition of student-faculty research. She won Wheaton’s first research grants in 1959 and conducted all of her research with students.

Bojan named the two funds after the family in order to acknowledge the contributions and support of her late husband. In the early ’50s, the couple and their children, Hamlin and Nora, moved to Norton from New York City so Bojan could teach at Wheaton and earn her doctorate at Harvard.

Addison had worked at the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in New York, and according to Hamlin, the company was loath to see him go.

“We have a family letter from Arthur Andersen himself, indicating that my father would always be welcomed back,” Hamlin said. “But he followed my mom and established an accounting firm in Taunton.”

Bojan said Addison was “absolutely wonderful” in the way he encouraged her career. “I couldn’t have done it all without his moral support.”

“We are definitely a Wheaton family!” said Ashley Jennings ’07, who was encouraged to come to Wheaton by Professor of Chemistry Elita Pastra-Landis ’69, a former student of Bojan’s. “She became my mentor, and she still is.”

A biology major at Wheaton, Ashley is completing a master’s degree in marine biology at Boston University, studying how sharks navigate and detect the odors of their prey. She said that Wheaton prepared her well for graduate study.

“I look back at Wheaton as one of the best times in my life,” she said. “Going to a large university for graduate study made me realize that I couldn’t have succeeded as well as I did as an undergrad without the personalized attention I got from Wheaton’s professors and staff. That was a huge advantage for me.”

Ashley’s father, Hamlin, who helped his mother “brainstorm the possibilities” for the endowed funds, believes that philanthropic support for Wheaton “is essential for its survival.” He hopes the funds will continue to grow through the contributions of family members and others who wish to honor his parents.

Bojan and Addison have paved the way.

“I feel good about the scholarship and the prize,” Bojan said. “I hope they do what I would do if I were still at Wheaton—encourage talented students to go into science.”

She began giving back to her alma mater early on, donating annually whenever she could.

“I was only able to go to Wheaton because of scholarships, so I feel the need to pay back as much as I possibly can,” said Toro, who lives in Newton, Mass. “People in my family were instrumental in helping me get into Wheaton, and I’ve seen them all be philanthropic. I wanted to follow in that path to the best of my ability.”

In addition to volunteering over the years with several of Wheaton’s alumnae/i programs, Toro recently made a major gift to the Wheaton Fund forscholarships.

This year marks her 25th anniversary of graduating from Wheaton. As an undergraduate, she studied German and history and spent a year abroad at the University of Freiburg in Germany—an experience she often reflects on.

“I think my history degree gave me a sense of curiosity about the world and how things happen,” Toro said. “My career path has been accidental in some ways. I’ve taken different opportunities based on a particular need or interest I had at the time.”

Her first job after Wheaton was as associate product manager for Fleet Financial Group in Providence, R.I. She was then recruited by Visa and moved to Washington, D.C., traveling around the country as a senior account executive. After six years at Visa, she took a job as account director at Brann Worldwide in Chicago.

While she was in Chicago, a friend got Toro involved with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and Toro helped bring the event to that city.

“I raised money from individuals as well as from corporations, did event management and ran a lot of the logistics, and that got me interested in fundraising,” she said.

Looking to return to the East Coast, Toro was hired at MIT as a major gift fundraiser, working with alumni in the New York metro area. After a few years at MIT, Toro took a job as director of development at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. But she missed her team at MIT, so when a management position opened up, she applied and was hired back.

“I feel like I have the life I want,” said Toro, who is married to Bonnie Leonard and has two sons, Ian and Christopher. “The thing I like about MIT is it’s big; it’s well known. It really has an impact on the world. People are always doing new and different things, and my own job can be entrepreneurial, yet I have a big organization behind me. I’ve always worked for organizations that have amazing brands, so the strength of the brand is important to me. We have this instant credibility.”

Toro also appreciates the skills she gained as a liberal arts student at Wheaton.

“My colleagues and I talk about it all the time. What better training for this type of role than a liberal arts education, in terms of critical thinking, writing skills and emotional intelligence,” Toro said.

From Wheaton to a career in banking to her current job in fundraising, for Toro it comes down to one thing.

“It’s all about relationships,” she said. “Whether you’re dealing with an individual or a corporation, you’re dealing with people.”

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/return-investment/feed/0Christine Toro50 years later, she still cherishes Wheatonhttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/50-years-later/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/05/07/50-years-later/#respondThu, 08 May 2014 03:03:13 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9532The United States was undergoing serious changes when Katharine “Kathy” King Raybin ’64 was an English major at Wheaton: civil rights marches, the Cuban missile crisis, space exploration and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to name a few.

As an undergraduate experiencing these events on campus, Raybin felt part of something great.

“I loved being on the campus where people cared about those things,” she said. “There was just a lot going on in America, and it was a privilege to be at Wheaton while it was going on, even though a lot of it was tragic and scary.”

Raybin will be returning to campus in May for her class’ 50th Reunion, which she is helping to plan, along with college roommates Beverly “Bev” Decker Reed ’64 and Elizabeth “Hydie” Richardson Ralston ’64.

“It’s been fun to reconnect with former classmates and try to get them to come, and to talk to people on the phone I haven’t talked to in 50 years,” Raybin said. “Whether they all come to the Reunion or not, the process has been wonderful.”

Raybin chose Wheaton in part because one of her role models, aunt Nancy Lyon Porter ’43, was a Wheaton graduate.

“I loved my English classes. I loved my friends. I grew up in a pretty insulated ‘vanilla’ town, so to then come to Wheaton where there was a much bigger mix of people was really wonderful for me,” Raybin said.

Her positive experience led her to make a major gift to the college and to commit to a Founders Society gift to create an endowed scholarship.

“I am adding Wheaton to my will in order to help people benefit from a Wheaton education like I had, to make a difference for students who can’t afford it,” she said. “I’d like to encourage the qualities of resilience, curiosity and perseverance in potential students who are conquering odds in even applying to Wheaton.”

After graduating, Raybin worked for a publishing company in New York, and then had several part-time jobs in special education and mental health as she moved west. In 1972, she obtained a master’s degree in special education at the University of Denver. She worked as a clinical educator, helping graduate students with their special education studies, and then did private assessment work and tutoring. She married her husband, Jim, and moved from Denver to Boulder, Colo., where they raised two daughters, Jenny and Becky.

When the girls were in high school, Raybin pursued a master’s degree in counseling at Denver Seminary. The same weekend her youngest daughter graduated from high school, and right as she herself was turning 50, Raybin graduated with her second master’s degree. She now works as a therapist, counseling mainly women.

“Along with books, I have always loved people,” Raybin said. “When people come in and they’re in transition or dealing with a loss or mental disturbance or an issue with a parent or child, I love helping them sort out what the issues are. I love walking alongside them.”

Professor of Biology Betsey Dexter Dyer ’75 knows how to make the most of a vacation. She has taken trips to Puerto Rico, Ecuador, parts of Africa and New Orleans’ French Quarter, where she took in the scenery, enjoyed local cuisine and, oh yes, studied microbial evolution in the guts of termites.

On a trip to Grand Bahama Island in 2004, Dyer and her two children, ages 10 and 13 at the time, spent a few days at a luxurious beachside resort—and several hours riding a jeep around the island in search of rhinotermitids and kalotermitids, which they brought back to their hotel room to view under a field microscope.

This summer, thanks to a fellowship from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, Dyer will be heading west to the Sonoran Desert for a closer look at termites that were left behind when the inland sea that once covered the area disappeared. The fellowship will also fund a second trip, likely in the fall or next spring, to the Pacific Northwest, where Dyer will study an ancient lineage of termites left behind by glacial movement, a type otherwise only found in Japan and the Himalayan foothills. She will also be taking a trip to New York City to examine specimens archived at the American Museum of Natural History.

“It turns out that North America is actually a pretty good place to see some unusual termite examples, and part of it is because of the history of the ice age on this continent and the long-term change in climate in the Southwest,” Dyer said.

As she notes in her Whiting proposal: “Compared to many insects, termites typically are not long-distance travelers. Rather, they have been passive riders aboard the slowly drifting continents through their 250-million-year history.”

A biologist who focuses on microbial evolution, Dyer appreciates the lessons that can be found in the bellies of these insects. Different termite lineages have their own microbial symbionts, a microscopic world Dyer calls “exceptionally charismatic.”

“It turns out that the microorganisms in the termite hindguts are extravagantly, baroquely, morphologically exciting. They have different shapes and all kinds of different appendages,” she said.

Unfortunately, this kind of study requires a sacrifice on the part of the termite.

“I don’t like killing organisms, but I do chop the head off the termite and then extract out the hindgut. Then I chop up that hindgut and it makes a sort of brownish slurry of whatever the termite was digesting,” she explained. “It’s absolutely teeming with microorganisms, like Grand Central Station at rush hour, with organisms going every which way.”

Dyer, who recently celebrated her 30th year of teaching at Wheaton, has been studying microbial communities in termites since 1976.

“I’ve always loved tiny things,” she said. “I like looking under the microscope; I like that kind of focus. I like transporting myself into that world.”

The evolutionary lessons termites provide benefit Dyer as both a researcher and an educator.

“Pretty much all the classes I teach are about evolution. I don’t always get to talk about termites in class; it’s a little specific. But there are big lessons from the termites that translate to my classes,” she said.

Working with trusts and estates requires a high level of integrity. As chief trust officer and senior vice president at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York City, Daniel Arciola ’94 understands that, as well as how an education that emphasizes ethics can prepare a person for success.

“When I think about the important things you need to be successful in this industry—communications skills, critical thinking skills, the ability to write, leadership, teamwork—they are all things that through attending Wheaton I had the opportunity to develop,” Arciola said. “At my firm, there is a real emphasis on integrity and teamwork, and those are things our Honor Code at Wheaton focused on. I feel those were values that are very similar to the core values at the institution I now work for.”

Even before college, Arciola knew he wanted to go into law, although his first aspiration was to become a prosecutor. It was later, during law school, while working in the Family Court Division of the Office of the Corporation Counsel in Manhattan, that he became “a bit disenchanted” with criminal law, deciding instead to pursue a career in trusts and estates.

A guidance counselor at Arciola’s high school in New Milford, Conn., also a Wheaton alumna, helped steer him toward Wheaton for his undergraduate studies.

“She spoke very highly of the education that you could receive at Wheaton,” Arciola said. “So I followed that recommendation, went up and visited the school, and liked the feel of the campus.”

At Wheaton, Arciola studied political science, with minors in economics and legal studies, and became a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated magna cum laude.

“Academically, I felt that Wheaton had highly qualified professors, and I liked the individual attention you receive in the small classrooms,” he said. “I enjoyed my social time and was active in intramural sports. I met lifelong friends.”

After Wheaton, Arciola attended New York Law School, where he earned his juris doctor with honors. Today, he oversees trust administration for Brown Brothers Harriman’s Delaware National Trust Company and for the New York office of Brown Brothers Harriman’s New York National Trust Company.

He credits his professional success to his Wheaton education, as well as the experience of living and studying under the Honor Code. He recently returned the favor by making a leadership gift to the Wheaton Fund.

“I don’t think I would be where I am today without Wheaton College. I think that, in a large part, the institution prepared me to get where I am, and this gift is my little way of giving back, for everything that I got out of Wheaton,” Arciola said. “And hopefully it will help Wheaton bring in students who will help the institution continue to be successful in the future.”

$36,118,427 committed to expanding and enhancing science facilities through the Mars Center for Science and Technology.

Goal: $35 million

Student scholarships:

$51,361,128 committed to increasing scholarship support for Wheaton students and their families.

Goal: $50.6 million

Annual support:

$33,454,934 contributed to the Wheaton Fund since July 1, 2005. Alumnae/i, parents and friends have committed $2,881,371 since July 1, 2013.

Goal: $4.7 million for fiscal year 2014 (ending on June 30, 2014); $34.4 million by June 30, 2014.

Student-faculty research:

$1,408,388 committed to support student-faculty research collaborations through the establishment of endowed funds for
that purpose.

Artificial turf field:

$3,866,770 contributed to construction and maintenance of an artificial turf field and lighting to expand opportunities for intercollegiate, club and intramural sports.

Goal: $3,865,000

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/02/07/progress-numbers-3/feed/0Go Beyond logoDiane C. Nordin ’80 Athletic Field by the numbershttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/02/07/diane-nordin-80-athletic-field-numbers/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2014/02/07/diane-nordin-80-athletic-field-numbers/#respondSat, 08 Feb 2014 04:07:32 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=9312The new artificial turf field has been getting regular use since the end of August 2013, thanks to the generous donations of alumnae/i, parents and friends. Here is a look at what has been happening on the field so far, including the night game pictured above.

Groundbreaking:

Oct. 13, 2012, at Homecoming

Open for action: Fall 2013

Project cost:

Construction: $2.86 million

Maintenance endowment: $1 million

By the numbers:

230 practices and counting (yes, even in winter)

16 games played (men’s soccer, field hockey, men’s and women’s rugby)

9 teams using the field: field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rugby, Ultimate Frisbee and club soccer.

5 night games, 1 men’s soccer, 2 field hockey,
2 men’s rugby

2 outside groups using the field: Foxborough Charter School, for boys’ and girls’ soccer, and CS United club soccer.

]]>http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2013/10/15/progress-numbers-2/feed/0Go Beyond, Campaign for WheatonHonoring student championshttp://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2013/10/15/honoring-student-champions/
http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/2013/10/15/honoring-student-champions/#respondWed, 16 Oct 2013 03:35:37 +0000http://wheatoncollege.edu/quarterly/?p=8712When President Ronald A. Crutcher completes his term in office at the end of the academic year, the college plans to inaugurate a scholarship named for him and his wife, Betty Neal Crutcher.

Alumnae/i, parents and friends are gathering to create the Ronald and Betty Neal Crutcher Scholarship as a tribute to their visionary leadership over the past 10 years. The effort will result in both an endowed scholarship fund and a Wheaton Fund scholarship that will be awarded immediately.

“This is a particularly fitting honor, given the Crutchers’ professional commitment as educators and the many deep relationships they have developed with students,” said Thomas Hollister, chair of the Wheaton College Board of Trustees.

The Crutchers’ involvement with students is personal. Each year, they greet first-year families when they arrive for orientation, helping to unload minivans, answer myriad questions and share a warm welcome. They stay connected with these students, personally mentoring dozens of young women and men.

In addition, the Crutchers’ philanthropy has been directed to scholarship aid to help ensure that students will not face excessive student loan debt after they graduate.

The Ronald and Betty Neal Crutcher Wheaton Fund Scholarship will confer annual scholarships for the 2014–2015 academic year to deserving students on the basis of academic merit, extracurricular achievements, and/or community service.

For more information on the Ronald and Betty Neal Crutcher Wheaton Fund Scholarship, please contact the Wheaton Fund at (508) 286-8226 or email WheatonFund@wheatoncollege.edu.

It’s a brilliant June morning on campus. Just outside of Balfour-Hood Center, two beautiful English oak trees sway in the breeze. The “coed oaks”—as they are affectionately known—were a gift of Susan “Sue” Stampler Paresky ’68 and her husband, Joseph.

The year was 1988, and Paresky, who was director of alumnae affairs at the time, planted the trees to commemorate a historic event in the story of the college: Wheaton was going co-ed.

But those weren’t the only seeds the Pareskys planted. That same year, the couple established the Joseph M. and Susan Stampler Paresky ’68 Fellowship to provide financial assistance to recent Wheaton graduates pursuing graduate studies. The Paresky Fellowship is still going strong, and 2013 marks its 25th anniversary.

Like the oak trees she planted 25 years ago, Susan Paresky’s roots run deep into the soil of Wheaton. After graduating, she married her husband on campus at Cole Memorial Chapel in 1972. She became director of alumnae affairs in 1982, set up the Paresky Fellowship in 1988, and from 1993 to 2003, she was a Trustee of the college, working on major issues like enrollment, budgets, strategic planning and, of course, fundraising.

“I have always felt that Wheaton is a springboard into life,” she says. “And I want to give back to the school that has given me so much.”

Paresky says it is remarkable to see the impact Wheaton graduates have made in their respective—and very diverse—professional fields.

Generosity is a central theme in Paresky’s life, instilled in her from an early age by her parents. Whether it has been time, talent, financial contributions, or words of encouragement, Paresky has dedicated her life to helping others.

She is currently senior vice president for development at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she directs all fundraising and capital campaigns. She recently managed a $1 billion capital campaign for Dana-Farber—the largest-ever fundraising effort for any New England hospital.

“She’s really a legend,” says Lora Sharpe, director of donor relations at Wheaton. “In her professional life, she’s achieved historic results in philanthropic giving for cancer research. And in her personal life, she is always so generous, even with her time.”

Today, the coed oaks are still standing strong, still growing, stretching ever skyward.

For her, it’s a way of giving back. Salazar herself grew up in a low-income section of Brooklyn (she’s still a Yankees fan), where her father was a janitor and her mother was a homemaker. She received a Posse Scholarship to attend Wheaton, where she saw firsthand the value of passionate, dedicated educators.

“My professors invested in me,” she says. “I knew they cared about me, and that made all the difference. ”

In her history and education classes, her eyes were opened to inequalities in our public education system. And she was determined to change that.

After graduating from Wheaton, she pursued a master’s degree in education at Tufts University, with the aid of a Paresky Fellowship.

Upon receiving her master’s degree in 2011, she was immediately offered a position teaching 10th grade social studies at Boston Green Academy, a public charter school in South Boston.

She believes reforming our education system is not a choice, but a fundamental part of an ethical and just society.

And, for Salazar, the adventure continues: she just accepted a teaching position for sixth and seventh grade social studies at Hyde Leadership Charter School, which is in the Hunt’s Point neighborhood of the Bronx in New York. It is one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States; more than half the population lives below the poverty level.

“There are lots of struggles there,” says Salazar. “But there’s so much potential. I see it in the kids. I have faith in them. It’s the reason I became a teacher.”

Joshua “Jay” Weimer knew exactly what he wanted to do when he graduated from Wheaton. A double major in philosophy and political science, he had been trained to think critically.

“I liked to argue,” he says with a laugh. “And I wanted to do it professionally.”

Weimer wanted to pursue a career in the law. After graduating from Wheaton, he attended Yale Law School. He received a Paresky Fellowship, which relieved much of the financial pressure of law school, allowing him to focus on his studies.

Today, he argues cases as assistant district attorney for the northern district of Texas, a massive area covering 100 counties and almost 96,000 square miles.

He enjoys the energy of the courtroom, the daily challenge of thinking on his feet in critical situations. Rather than wilting under the pressure, he thrives on it.

He has worked in cases ranging from health care to immigration, from terrorism to bank robberies. But what brings him true meaning in his career? Justice, he says.

“I’m fortunate as an attorney because I don’t have a ‘client.’ My client is the United States of America, and my job is to apply the law fairly to all people.”

Even though he is busy upholding the law on the plains of Texas, he still maintains close Wheaton connections. His senior-year roommate, Jason Neal ’96, was recently married and Weimer was best man at the wedding.

Vigneux felt she was directly impacting the students, helping them on a tangible, individual level. Parents of Norton High students began to seek her out to tutor their kids.

“I loved the excitement of politics,” she says. “But I had found my calling.”

She decided to get her master’s degree from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, where she received a Paresky Fellowship.

From there, it’s been a whirlwind: she taught social studies in Belchertown, Mass. Four years later, she was promoted to assistant principal. Then, at only 28 years old, she was named principal of Belchertown High School. She was one of the youngest high school principals in Massachusetts. But she jumped into the challenge headfirst—and she’s been there ever since.

She loves shaping the education students receive, and she credits her professors at Wheaton for being role models in how to treat students.

Education is a family affair in the Vigneux home. Her husband is an English teacher at Belchertown High, where, fortunately, he has a good relationship with his boss.

In May, Vigneux attended the reception for fellows at Susan and Joseph Paresky’s home.

“I am grateful to both of them, for what they’ve allowed me to do in my career,” she says. “I hope I’ve made them proud.”